Star Wars: Jedi Challenges

Initially, the game offered six distinct locales, all accessible via a holomap projected from a Jedi holocron, serving as the AR mode's equivalent to a real-world tracking beacon. These locations were primarily selected from well-known Star Wars productions, including Naboo from Episode I The Phantom Menace, Hoth from Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, Takodana from Episode VII The Force Awakens, and Lothal and Garel from Star Wars Rebels, alongside a "new" location within the "Core of the Galaxy" that lacks specific identification.

Upon selecting each location, players could engage in three game modes: Lightsaber Battle, Holochess, and Strategic Combat. Each mode was adapted to fit the setting, era, and project (excluding the Core), featuring relevant factions, vehicles, and conflicts. For instance, on Garel, the Lightsaber Battle's Epic stage featured the Seventh Sister, while the Strategic Battle presented a skirmish between Alliance and Imperial forces at the Garel City Spaceport. However, the Holochess stages remained largely consistent across all locations.

The first-person Lightsaber Battles, also known as "Combat Challenges," were the game's main and most comprehensive mode. They were divided into three stages on each planet: the "First," "Second," and "Epic Encounters." The initial two encounters involved facing waves of enemy soldiers, including both standard and specialized units (e.g., B1-series battle droid and B2-series super battle droid, Stormtrooper and Scout trooper). The Epic encounter pitted players against a Dark side boss in a one-on-one duel, each possessing unique skills or traits. Before each encounter, players could equip two "Passive" buffs and one active "Force Power" ability, influencing combat in various ways. Completing all three stages on each planet advanced a "Trials" triumph card specifically for the "Trials of Combat," progressing from "Jedi Initiate" to "Jedi Master" as more encounters were completed.

At the beginning, the Holochess mode allowed players to experience the classic in-universe game Dejarik, again, in sets of three stages across six planets, for a total of 18 unique matches. Every Holochess game had a prearranged board, forcing players to figure out how to finish each match with the given eight unlockable creature pieces. As the encounters got tougher, the matches would include stronger and more numerous units, and wins would help fill the triumph card called "Trials of Insight."

Strategic Combat was described as a tower defense game where players could put and control units, turrets, and vehicles while trying to do things like protect astromech droids hacking into systems or keep outbound evacuation ships from getting stopped. Players could command the Grand Army of the Republic, Alliance Military, or Resistance Army to fight against incoming waves of their enemies by placing various squads or single ground units, different turrets with specific uses, air strikes from fighter squadrons, and ground and air heroes in the form of some of Star Wars' most famous characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Sabine Wren, and Poe Dameron, among others. Enemy factions had access to the same selection of units, including hero units of their own, and waves would grow increasingly difficult as players progressed through the three difficulties on each world, completing their "Trials of Leadership" triumph card as they pressed on.

As the player progresses from the Outer Rim toward the galaxy's heart, they repeatedly meet a mysterious figure known only as the "Archivist." This individual claims to be a Jedi Master, Archivist, Scholar, and Holochess authority, sanctioned by the Jedi High Council to assess aspiring Jedi through the curated simulations that constitute the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges experience. The Archivist guides the player early on, providing tutorials for each mode and serving as their opponent in all Dejarik matches.

Located at an unknown spot in the Galaxy's Core, the Archivist acts as the final boss in the base modes, presenting a very difficult Holochess game, using a combined army of all enemy factions in the game in Strategic Combat, and having only a First and Epic encounter. The First is a normal duel against the Archivist, but in the Epic encounter, they make a fake situation where the player sees them as a Dark Side Force user who tricks them into killing them after winning and taking their place as the "Master of the Holocron." When the player shows their restraint and loyalty to the Jedi Order and Light side of the Force, the Archivist gives them the rank of Jedi Master and lets them use the sought-after purple Kyber crystal, which stays unlocked, along with the standard green and blue, from then on.

Each encounter in every game mode also had a list of "Performance Ratings," which were special conditions to meet in fights, like "Get hit no more than 5 times" in Lightsaber Battles or "Win without losing any creatures" in Holochess. Finishing all these ratings was needed to 100% complete Star Wars: Jedi Challenges, but there was no special prize for doing so.

The game also had a multiplayer feature where two players, if they both owned the Lenovo AR headset and lightsaber controller, could connect their systems via Bluetooth and compete against each other in all three game modes. This even allowed one player to use the factions that were previously exclusive to enemies in Strategic Combat, though they still couldn't use red lightsaber in Lightsaber Battles.

The release of Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi was accompanied by new content for both the Strategic Battle and Lightsaber Battle modes. The new Strategic Battle stages let players defend against the First Order on Crait, who now used All Terrain MegaCaliber Six walkers and Kylo Ren's TIE silencer. The player could summon units including MG-100 StarFortress SF-17 heavy bombers and an older Luke Skywalker. The new Lightsaber Battle encounters pitted players against First Order riot control stormtroopers and executioner troopers, as well as two Elite Praetorian Guards at the same time for the Epic encounter. As a reward for finishing both new modes, players got access to a "trophy" room in the form of a small Ahch-To island with five Porgs and some eggs. These Porgs are interactive, and players can feed them fish and watch them live. Unlike other locations, doing the Crait activities doesn't help move towards the Core in the base game, and it doesn't involve the Archivist, though it's implied to be another of their tests.

The "Dark Side Expansion," also called S_tar Wars: Sith Challenges_, added the option to pick from four main menu options at launch: the original Jedi Challenges represented by the Archivist, Jedi Challenges - Dark Side Expansion represented by Kylo Ren, the updated Lightsaber - Versus Mode, and the new multiplayer game mode, "Ship Battles". When you pick the new expansion from this menu, a Sith holocron appears, surrounded by dark, steel platforms instead of the bright holo-map in the base game. From this menu, the player can pick from the different Combat Challenges opponents, which are Yoda, Luke Skywalker, and Rey. Each encounter has three difficulty settings, for a total of nine new duels. Before fighting each of these Light side combatants for the first time, Kylo Ren and the Sith holocron would start a combat tutorial for the player. After each win, the player gets either a Dark side Passive skill or active Ability. The expansion offers 6 new Passives and 3 new Abilities to use only in replays against these three opponents.

In multiplayer, the Ship Battles mode brought a new level of competition, letting players control either an MC80A Home One Type Heavy Star Cruiser or Imperial I-class Star Destroyer to destroy the other player's capital ship. The goal was to disable four parts of the opposing ship: the Turbolasers, which affected the ship's rate of fire, the Shields, which affected incoming damage, the Hangar Bay, which affected how fast smaller ships could be deployed, and the Comms, which affected how often in-game reinforcements would arrive. Players could choose which systems to target with their artillery during combat, and could also summon and control standard starfighters/bombers and a hero vessel/special attack for a short time. There was also a tutorial narrated by Admiral Gial Ackbar.

Star Wars: Jedi Challenges was revealed at D23 2017, promising players the chance to experience events from the Star Wars movies, including playing Holochess like they were on the Millennium Falcon and feeling like they were swinging a lightsaber hilt, watching the blade light up before their eyes.

Pre-orders started on August 31, 2017, and the game officially launched on October 26, though some countries reportedly wouldn't get it until November. The AR experience needed two things to play: the free Star Wars: Jedi Challenges mobile app for Android and iOS, and a physical technology bundle with a Lenovo Mirage AR headset, a replica lightsaber controller based on the Skywalker hilt, a "tracking beacon" to map the game to a physical environment, and a shared device charger. Players had to set up the mobile app and calibrate it to their lightsaber controller and tracking beacon before putting it into the headset's tray. The equipment cost $199.99 per unit and could be ordered from Lenovo's website, most major technology retailers, and the official Star Wars: Jedi Challenges website.

The first of three major expansions for Star Wars: Jedi Challenges was revealed on December 14, 2017, as a promotional tie-in for Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi, which premiered in theaters the day after the announcement. This free expansion went live on January 25, 2018, adding a new location, Crait, with new stages for two of the three base game modes (the expansion didn't include new Holochess challenges).

Employees at Schell Games said they were only given a brief glimpse of early footage of the climactic fight with the Praetorian Guards in The Last Jedi and had to recreate their fighting style from memory for the Epic Combat Challenge in the The Last Jedi Update. Caleb Arseneaux, the managing producer of Star Wars: Jedi Challenges, revealed that the team had to choose the Praetorian Guards as the final encounter because there were no other qualified enemy combatants in the film that weren't already in the game, which frustrated the developers at first.

Luckily, Arseneaux came up with the idea for the Epic encounter to have two enemies at once, which Schell Games was excited to test and implement. They also made sure both guards were different variants with their own armor, weapons, and fighting styles, adding to the uniqueness of the fight. After seeing the film, Arseneaux said, "It felt great. After seeing that moment in the film, you're like, 'Oh my gosh.' Some of the moves that we never saw before in the footage they showed us early, we animated anyway. It really feels authentic. It feels like those characters."

The game's second major update was released on April 18, 2018, but only affected the Holochess game mode on Apple products, adding ARKit support to digital applications running iOS 11 and up. For those who met these requirements, all 18 stages in the game were made available to play directly in the app without the headset, controller, or tracking beacon, making it immediately accessible to everyone for free. This mobile Dejarik feature still needed access to the device's camera to use its simple AR mode.

The third, final, and largest expansion to the game, called the "Dark Side Expansion," was revealed on August 30, 2018, and released for free to all players on November 14, 2018. There was also an optional piece of hardware available for purchase: a new lightsaber controller based on Kylo Ren's lightsaber for $99.99, enhancing the experience of using that lightsaber in the expansion.

In an interview with StarWars.com, Jonathan Hsu and Seth Davis, a senior mechanical engineer and director of product management at Disney, said that designing and producing Kylo Ren's lightsaber controller was much harder than the Skywalker lightsaber version. "One, it's very worn down, but two, it's kind of this mashed together piece of hardware," Hsu said, "There's a balance between 'How can we produce one that would do the actual Kylo saber justice' but also if we can afford to do it justice and keep it affordable." After trying out different colors, simulated damage, 3D printing, injection molding, decorative elements, and more across many meetings and prototypes, they finally settled on a design they were proud of. Davis said, "In this case, you're holding it in your own hands, and that was a pretty satisfying experience to see that come to life."

Even though the Lenovo admins stayed active on the official Star Wars: Jedi Challenges until early 2021, often entertaining suggestions for future content updates from fans and seemingly teasing more to come, the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges app and gear were officially retired on June 1, 2022. Product support remained available until July 6 of the following month. The official Star Wars: Jedi Challenges website was also taken down, now redirecting users to the VR Headsets product page on Lenovo's website.

The continuity of Star Wars: Jedi Challenges has been consistently questioned, especially regarding the Archivist and their seemingly all-knowing view of the universe and its different eras. Matt Martin, a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group and Sr. Creative Executive at Lucasfilm Ltd., who worked on the game, addressed this confusion. He explained, "The whole thing is sort of a simulation but I suppose there are elements of canon if you care."

Shortly after it was released, the Star Wars: Jedi Challenges AR Headset won the "2017 – 2018 Golden A' Design Award" in the "Digital and Electronic Devices Design Award" for its ergonomic design and high immersion.

At the 2018 Webby Awards, Star Wars: Jedi Challenges won in four categories. The game won in the official categories of Technical Achievement and Best Use of Augmented Reality. It also won in the People's Voice categories of Technical Achievement and Best Use of Augmented Reality.